Bob Cooney

The sister of former Sixers guard Willie Green and her cousin were killed on their way home from watching Green play for the New Orleans Hornets in an overtime loss to the Detroit Pistons last night at the Palace of Auburn Hills, the Detroit Free Press.

Green played collegiately at Detroit Mercy.

Tamara Lynette Green, 30, and her cousin, Gary Benjamin Green, 27, who was driving, died heading southbound on I-75.

“I feel pretty hurt,” Willie Green Sr. told the newspaper. “But I’m going to take solace in the same things we tell other folks going through other things like this: If God permits something like that to happen, say ‘Amen’ and move on. That’s what I will use to cope.”

According to police, no one witnessed the 12:40 a.m. accident.

"They went off the roadway at a high rate of speed, went airborne and hit the tree with the roof of the car," Troy Police Lt. Robert Redmond said. "It wasn’t the road conditions; the road was fine. It was the speed. Where there’s the least amount of protection is the roof of the car."

Investigators believe alcohol might have been a factor in the crash but are waiting for test results for confirmation, he added. Both were declared dead at the scene, investigators said.

Willie Green was already in Indiana for tonight's game when he got the call, his father said. He returned to Detroit after the Hornets told him to take as much time as he needed.

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